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Ancient slavery timeline

-1st century BCE- Slavery recorded in Sanskrit Laws of Manu(India)

-1841- Estimated eight million slaves in India

-18th-12th century BCE- Slavery existed in Shang Dynasty in China

-Before the 1400 there was slavery in Europe

- Slaves remained common in Europe throughout the early medieval period

-In Mesopotamia 10,000 years ago a male slave was worth an orchard of date palms

-Children were sold into slavery by poor families or from other countries

-During the fifth century BC people in Athens had more slaves than free citizens

-Romans traded slaves to be gladiators, clerks, miners, and agricultural workers

-In Northern Europe, slavery was abolished by the medieval times

-From the 8th century onwards there has been an Arab-slave trade

-1441-The start of European slave trade in Africa

-1562-Sir John Hawkins was the first English slave trader

-In 1730 Britain became the world’s biggest slave trading country

-In 1803 Napoleon brings back slavery in French colonies

-About 5,000 slaves were transported between 1680-1686

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Slavery in Asia

-Slavery has been known to have existed in China as early as the Shang dynasty(18th-12th century BCE)

- 5% of the population was enslaved

- Slavery has been part of the Chinese society up until the 20th century

- Slaves were gathered by being captured in war, slave raiding, and the sale of insolvent debtors

- the Chinese practiced self-sale into slavery, the sale of women and children

-kidnapping produced a regular flow of slaves at times

-slaves in China were often luxury items who constituted a drain on the economy

- One reason why China never developed into a slave society is due to the abundance of non-slave labour at low prices

- Korea also had a very large slave population

- slaves were a third to half of the entire population

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Slavery in India

-Slavery also existed in Ancient India as well

- In 1841 there was an estimated 8 to 9 million slaves in India

- Most of the slaves in India could never leave the land they worked on

- most slaves were recruited individually by purchase from dealers, parents, or by self-sale of the starving

- These slaves were classified as household slaves

Owning a slave in Hindu India was complicated

- slave owners’ had a ritual where they needed to know the origins of their slaves

- The Philippines, Nepal, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Japan are known to have had slavery from ancient until fairly recent times.

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Slavery in Europe

- In England in 1086, 10% of the population were slaves.

- France, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, and Russia also had slavery in their country

- slavery was a major trade or business until the early 1720s

- Slaves were also very common in Scandinavia during the Viking era (800–1050 CE)

- During this time period slaves were used for at home purposes

- Slaves were present in significant numbers in Scandinavia

- when the state converted, household slaves were turned into house serfs in order to put them on the tax rolls

- House serfs were freed from their lords by Alexander II in 1861

- Many scholars argue that the Soviets introduced a form of state slavery again with the Gulag camps until 1956

-In the second half of the 15th century Europeans began to trade along the west coast of Africa

- By 1867 about 7 million and 10 million Africans had been shipped as slaves to “the New World”.

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Slavery in America

-Slavery first developed in America in 1619

-That year a Dutch ship arrived carrying African slaves

- Slaves were brought to America to work on plantations(ex:tobacco plantations)

-In 1625 there were 23 African American slaves in the colony of Virginia.

-Thirty-five years later this number increases to 950 slaves

- The slaves would live on their masters land, most of the time they lived in bad conditions

- If slaves refused, they would be brutally punished

- Between 1774 and 1804 all of the northern states abolished slavery, however the southern states did not.

- Many slaves tried to escape into the northern states to be free

- Many succeeded in getting to the northern states, however most didn’t

-It was an extremely long and hard journey, and the slaves had to go through unbelievable conditions

- Slave owners would buy and trade more slaves to produce more products on their plantations

- Slave families would often be separated

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Slave boats

- slaves would be gathered and forced onto a boat in Africa and shipped to other counties with slaves were demanded

- there are two systems of packing slaves onto the boats

- one was called loose packing

- in loose packing, the captain would pack fewer slaves on the ship at once to help prevent diseases and deaths

- the other system was called tight packing

- the captains would pack more slaves on the ships than they could normally carry

-the slaves were chained up and were chained at the ankle, wrist, and neck.

-they couldn’t move at all

- many slaves were suicidal

- they tried to throw themselves overboard, some would have someone else strangle them, or starve themselves to death.

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Slave boats

- food and water was a big problem

- slaves weren’t fed enough

- it was very hot in the ships so water was very important to keep them hydrated

- the Dutch would feed their slaves decent food three times a day

- the french would feed their slaves mostly stew, oats, dried turtle meat, and dried vegetables.

- the English only fed the slaves twice a day and gave them their meals in small fat tubes.

- the flu, smallpox, and scurvy were the most spread diseases.

- In the 17th century the journey ranged from about 35-50 days long

- In the 18th century the ships were bigger and the journey was about 30 days

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slavery groups

- one slavery group is called “free the slaves”

- on their website they discuss that slavery has an effect on everyone in someway ( the website-https://www.freetheslaves.net/)

- slavery is linked with the global economy

- people go and buy products from stores, and the stores are getting the products from other countries and companies.

- those companies have the slaves produce their products

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Slavery abolishment timeline

1761- abolished slavery in mainland Portugal

1787- foundation of the Society for effecting the Abolition of the slave trade

1794- slavery abolished by French Colonies

1802- Slavery is reintroduced to French Colonies

1803- Slavery abolished in Denmark

1807- Slave trading abolished by Britain and the United States

1811- Slavery abolished in Spain( opposed by Cuba and unenforced)

1813- slave trading abolished by Sweden

1814- Slave trade abolished by the Netherlands

1817- Slavery abolished by France( not effective until 1826)

1819- slave trading abolished from north of the equator by Portugal

1820- slave trade abolished by Spain

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Slavery abolishment timeline

1834- slavery abolished in British colonies

1842- slaves freed in Uruguay

1843- slaves freed in Argentina

1848- abolished slavery in French and Danish colonies

1851- slave trading abolished by Brazil

1854- slavery abolished in Peru

1858-Slavery abolished in Portuguese colonies

1861- Slavery abolished in the Dutch colonies in the Caribbean

1865-Slavery abolished in the United States

1870- Slavery abolished in Cuba

1888- Slavery abolished in Brazil

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Slavery Today

-The United Nations is trying to abolish slavery today

-Modern slavery is sometimes confused with workers who have low wage jobs

-Inhumane working conditions

-People work under the threat of violence

-Human trafficking

-Today there are about 21 million slaves

- There are more people in slavery today than in any other time in history

- The average slave in the south in 1850 cost about $40,000 in today’s money

- today a slave costs only about $90.

- Slavery today has the same concept as it did hundreds of years ago

- Slavery exists everywhere in the world today

-there are many groups trying to abolish slavery

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sites

1. "Slavery." ThinkQuest. Oracle Foundation, n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2013.-http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112391/slavery.htm

2."Timeline - What Happened before 1807?" Historical Timeline of Slavery, Pre-1807. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2013.-http://www.royalnavalmuseum.org/visit_see_victory_cfexhibition_timepre1807.htm

3. "Slavery." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2013.-http://www.britannica.com/blackhistory/article-24156

4. "Slavery in America." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2013.-http://www.history.com/topics/slavery

5. "Modern Slavery - Free the Slaves." Modern Slavery Free the Slaves. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2013.-http://www.freetheslaves.net/page.aspx?pid=301

6. "Conditions on Slave Ships." Conditions on Slave Ships. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2013.-http://4thebest4e.tripod.com/id15.html

7. "Slavery Timeline." BBC News. BBC, n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2013.- http://www.bbc.co.uk/liverpool/localhistory/journey/american_connection/slavery/timeline.shtml

8. "HISTORY OF SLAVERY." HISTORY OF SLAVERY. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2013 http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/plaintexthistories.asp?historyid=ac41